Human respiratory syncytial virus is the main cause of lower respiratory tract infections among infants and young children (refs. 1 to 3--a list of references appears at the end of the disclosure and each of the references in the list is incorporated herein by reference thereto). Globally, 65 million infections occur every year resulting in 160,000 deaths (ref. 4). In the USA alone 100,000 children may require hospitalization for pneumonia and bronchiolitis caused by RS virus in a single year (refs. 5, 6). Providing inpatient and ambulatory care for children with RS virus infections costs in excess of $340 million annually in the USA (ref. 7). Severe lower respiratory tract disease due to RS virus infection predominantly occurs in infants two to six months of age (ref. 8). Approximately 4,000 infants in the USA die each year from complications arising from severe respiratory tract disease caused by infection with RS virus and Parainfluenza type 3 virus (PIV-3). The World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) vaccine advisory committees have ranked RS virus second only to HIV for vaccine development.
The structure and composition of RSV has been elucidated and is described in detail in the textbook "Fields Virology", Fields, B. N. et al. Raven Press, N.Y. (1996), in particular, Chapter 44, pp 1313-1351 "Respiratory Syncytial Virus" by Collins, P., McIntosh, K., and Chanock, R. M. (ref. 9).
The two major protective antigens of RSV are the envelope fusion (F) and attachment (G) glycoproteins (ref. 10). The F protein is synthesized as an about 68 kDa precursor molecule (F.sub.0) which is proteolytically cleaved into disulfide-linked F.sub.1 (about 48 kDa) and F.sub.2 (about 20 kDa) polypeptide fragments (ref. 11). The G protein (about 33 kDa) is heavily O-glycosylated giving rise to a glycoprotein of apparent molecular weight of about 90 kDa (ref. 12). Two broad subtypes of RS virus have been defined A and B (ref. 13). The major antigenic differences between these subtypes are found in the G glycoprotein while the F glycoprotein is more conserved (refs. 7, 14).
In addition to the antibody response generated by the F and G glycoproteins, human cytotoxic T cells produced by RSV infection have been shown to recognize the RSV F protein, matrix protein M, nucleoprotein N, small hydrophobic protein SH, and the nonstructural protein lb (ref. 15).
A safe and effective RSV vaccine is not available and is urgently needed. Approaches to the development of RS virus vaccines have included inactivation of the virus with formalin (ref. 16), isolation of cold-adapted and/or temperature-sensitive mutant viruses (ref. 17) and purified F or G glycoproteins (refs. 18, 19, 20). Clinical trial results have shown that both live attenuated and formalin-inactivated vaccines failed to adequately protect vaccines against RS virus infection (refs. 21 to 23). Problems encountered with attenuated cold-adapted and/or temperature-sensitive RS virus mutants administered intranasally included clinical morbidity, genetic instability and overattenuation (refs. 24 to 26). A live RS virus vaccine administered subcutaneously also was not efficacious (ref. 27). Inactivated RS viral vaccines have typically been prepared using formaldehyde as the inactivating agent. Murphy et al. (ref. 28) have reported data on the immune response in infants and children immunized with formalin-inactivated RS virus. Infants (2 to 6 months of age) developed a high titre of antibodies to the F glycoprotein but had a poor response to the G protein. Older individuals (7 to 40 months of age) developed titres of F and G antibodies comparable to those in children who were infected with RS virus. However, both infants and children developed a lower level of neutralizing antibodies than did individuals of comparable age with natural RS virus infections. The unbalanced immune response, with high titres of antibodies to the main immunogenic RS virus proteins F (fusion) and G (attachment) proteins but a low neutralizing antibody titre, may be in part due to alterations of important epitopes in the F and G glycoproteins by the formalin treatment. Furthermore, some infants who received the formalin-inactivated RS virus vaccine developed a more serious lower respiratory tract disease following subsequent exposure to natural RS virus than did non-immunized individuals (refs. 22, 23). The formalin-inactivated RS virus vaccines, therefore, have been deemed unacceptable for human use.
Evidence of an aberrant immune response also was seen in cotton rats immunized with formalin-inactivated RS virus (ref. 29). Furthermore, evaluation of RS virus formalin-inactivated vaccine in cotton rats also showed that upon live virus challenge, immunized animals developed enhanced pulmonary histopathology (ref. 30).
The mechanism of disease potentiation caused by formalin-inactivated RS virus vaccine preparations remains to be defined but is a major obstacle in the development of an effective RS virus vaccine. The potentiation may be partly due to the action of formalin on the F and G glycoproteins. Additionally, a non-RS virus specific mechanism of disease potentiation has been suggested, in which an immunological response to contaminating cellular or serum components present in the vaccine preparation could contribute, in part, to the exacerbated disease (ref. 31). Indeed, mice and cotton rats vaccinated with a lysate of HEp-2 cells and challenged with RS virus grown on HEp-2 cells developed a heightened pulmonary inflammatory response.
Furthermore, RS virus glycoproteins purified by immunoaffinity chromatography using elution at acid pH were immunogenic and protective but also induced immunopotentiation in cotton rats (refs. 29, 32).
There clearly remains a need for immunogenic preparations, including vaccines, which are not only effective in conferring protection against disease caused by RSV but also do not produce unwanted side-effects, such as immunopotentiation. There is also a need for antigens for diagnosing RSV infection and immunogens for the generation of antibodies (including monoclonal antibodies) that specifically recognize RSV proteins for use, for example, in diagnosis of disease caused by RS virus.